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Wireless Fees Drive Verizon's Earnings Beat

Verizon Communications (VZ) reported quarterly earnings that beat analysts' expectations driven by growth in its wireless business on Thursday, but revenue came in a bit light.

After the earnings announcement, the company's shares rose slightly in pre-market trading. (Click here to get the latest quotes for Verizon.) (VZ)

The company posted first-quarter earnings excluding items of 68 cents per share, up from 59 cents a share in the year-earlier period.

Revenue rose to $29.42 billion from $28.24 billion a year ago.

Analysts had expected the company to report earnings excluding items of 66 cents per share on $29.55 in revenue, according to a consensus estimate from Thomson Reuters.

Verizon Wireless, its venture with Vodafone Group (London Stock Exchange: VOD-GB), added 677,000 retail subscribers in the quarter, above Wall Street expectations for about 634,000, according to eight analysts contacted by Reuters.

Wireless service revenues rose 8.6 percent to $16.7 billion, accounting for more than half of overall revenue. At closest rival AT&T (NYSE:T), wireless service revenue has been rising just over 4 percent per year.